[Network] UniFi vs. Ruckus Unleashed for Home WiFi | Part V: Cost and Other Comparison + Final Thoughts

Introduction

In this last of the series, I am will look at cosmetic, scalability and cost comparison between UniFi and Ruckus Unleashed access point systems.

Cosmetic

For some users, especially in the home setting, access points cosmetics are important factor.

UniFi (left) has nice clean, non-obtrusive look. While Ruckus R-750 (right) doesn’t necessary look is bigger and look like a small electric box.  For home use, my wife does not like the R-750’s look when compared to UniFi’s AP especially as I hang it in Kitchen’s corner wall.

Scalability

Consumer gear’s standard is all-in-one with single device functioning as a router, wireless access point and sometimes even as a modem, security gateway, and switch.

Since I have moved onto UniFi, I have been truly enjoying the modular system with each of the network component represented by their own dedicated hardware. Besides the obvious overall better performance, it provides scalability in the network.

Just as in the current case, I can try out entire different brand access point while keeping remaining part of my UniFi network the same. In fact, I could have technically, kept most of UniFi Access Points and just replace one with Ruckus AP.

As a tech enthusiast, I like to try out new technology when possible. Scalable, modular system is a perfect for this. Opposite can be also said. If someone who do not mind the last generation technology, and think that’s the best value, modular system certainly allow this.

So what’s the access point catalogue look like for both systems?

As a prosumer brand, UniFi continues to strive releasing new products and keeping up with their catalogue rich and competitive. At the moment of this writing, UniFi offers two WiFi 6E compatible APs.

While Ruckus does not offer any 6E, unleashed compatible access point; however, Ruckus have already listed WiFi 7 unleashed compatible AP on their website including full specification. This is not yet available for purchase nor pre-order, but it is supposedly planned to be released in December.

Both system should not have any issue continue offering exciting new cutting edge access points, as well as having older technology devices with a discounted prices.

Cost

Lastly, let’s look at the cost. Although this might be the most important factor for many home users, I intentionally left this to the last. This is because if you just glance at the common specification like WiFi version, MIMO band, and advertised maximum cumulative throughput, Ruckus would immediately look as if overpriced product for no reason.

However, if you’ve read previous parts of this series, you’ve seen there are several areas Ruckus R-750 outperformed U6 Pro. At least part, if not most of such results are related to the other parts of internal hardware difference.

These internal hardware difference includes parts that are not obvious on specification. Two primary such examples are hardware that allows Ruckus AP to actively monitor their surrounding for real time radio resource management and Ruckus’s proprietary, antenna modulation technology, Beamflex+. I do not know how much these hardware components really worth. It’s just worth noting there are internal hardware difference beyond what one sees on the specification, and they are reflected on the end user experience difference.

Even if we were to ignore those special internals, there is no exact hardware matched comparison models between two companies catalogue, so the hardware value comparison is quite difficult, but we can look at the price difference.

R750 vs. U6 Enterprise

First let’s compare top of the line UniFi product at the moment, U6 Enterprise and compare it to R750, the AP that has been used in this series.

	U6 Enterprise	R750
WiFi Version	6E	6
6 GHz	4×4	No
5 GHz	4×4/160 MHz	4×4/MHz
2.4 GHz	2×2 (WiFi 6)	4×4 (WiFi 6)
Uplink Port (Gbps)	2.5	2.5
Tx Power 2.4 GHz (dBm)	22	26
Tx Power 5 GHz (dBm)	26	28
Minimum Receiver Sensitivity (dBm)	?	-102
Price (New)	$279.00	$650 (Amazon)

For the price of R-750 ($650 on Amazon), I could have purchased two brand new UniFi’s WiFi 6E capable access points.

Off the bat, the main advantage of UniFi here is that I could have gotten WiFi 6E capable APs. I have never tested 6E AP or client device on my own before, but in theory, and looks like what’s on the web, it should have 2x max throughput over the 5 GHz 80 MHz on practical 160 MHz 6 GHz band. So if you have WiFi 6E compatible devices, this is a big advantage.

As far as the range of coverage goes, you would think two APs vs. 1 AP would be an easy win for 2 APs. However, for the maximum range, you’d be looking at 2.4 GHz band. R750 has 4dBm higher transmission power than U6 Enterprise, which means more than 2x transmission power difference. So for the raw transmission power, R750 (398 mW) could have better overall range than two U6 Enterprise (316 mW). However, 5 GHz connection 2 units of U6 Enterprise (764 mW) will should better coverage R750 (630 mW). These difference does not even account for optimal placement of 2 APs.

R350 vs. U6 Enterprise

If we try to price match, I think we can compare U6 Enterprise to Ruckus Unleashed lowest end WiFi 6 model, R350.

	U6 Enterprise	R350
WiFi Version	6E	6
6 GHz	4×4	No
5 GHz	4×4/160 MHz	2×2/80 MHz
2.4 GHz	2×2 (WiFi 6)	2×2 (WiFi 6)
Uplink Port (Gbps)	2.5	1
Tx Power 2.4 GHz (dBm)	22	23
Tx Power 5 GHz (dBm)	26	23
Minimum Receiver Sensitivity (dBm)	?	-101
Price (New)	$279.00	$288.36 (Amazon)

U6 Enterprise costs $279 through official Ubiquiti UniFi store. Brand new Ruckus R350 is listed $288.36 on Amazon. So the price is relatively comparable, but what specifications are we losing on Ruckus side?

As R750, R350 is only WiFi 6 capable while U6 Enterprise is WiFi 6E. So there is that half generation technology gap.

Additionally, 5 GHz on R350 is only 2×2 while U6 Enterprise is 4×4. Practically, most WiFi 6 clients are 2×2. So unless you have older WiFi 5, 3×3 client or have MU-MIMO capable client, you may not lose much here. Though who wonder but what about beam forming technology? My understanding is beam forming requires MIMO, but Ruckus’s beam flex technology built into R350 should be superior to beam forming anyways. So I don’t consider this is a real difference.

On transmission power side, U6 Enterprise has 3 more dBm i.e. twice more power. So we should expect significant range advantage on the 5 GHz band with U6 Enterprise, assuming UniFi’s minimum receive sensitivity is compatible to its transmission capability.

As far as uplink port speed goes, this is fairly irrelevant as R350’s real throughput will max out under 1 Gbps. It would not have been able to utilize 2.5 Gbps even if it had one.

Ruckus IoT Onboard

One thing worth mentioning is that Ruckus AP lists “IoT Onboard” as feature for these APs. What this means is they have dedicated IoT hardwares for BLE, Zigbee and potentially expandable via USB port; however, they require subscription plan to use this functionality. So this is irrelevant for most home user.

Impression

After using Ruckus Unleashed set up for home use for a little over two weeks, here is my impression. Overall both systems are great for home use, and both can be viewed as overkill. As with everything else, it’s all depend on one’s need for which system is better.

If you are contemplating between UniFi vs. Ruckus, the real question is:

Does the end user experience improvement with Ruckus unleashed (over UniFi) justify the extra-cost?

One way to look at two systems are followings:

UniFi’s affordable price allows easier swapping of access points. If you already have other UniFi system, single controller interface for all is certainly benefit. Ubiquiti UniFi has much larger consumer/prosumer users so you can readily find community help from various forums.

Ruckus Unleashed would be good if you want relatively hand free optimization. Some of the Ruckus models have overall better range offers. This is because they have better 2.4 GHz hardware support, which maybe important for IoT devices and overall long range WiFi coverage. Also, some APs have better 5 GHz coverage than any of UniFi product line. So that’s something you are looking for such as in case you just don’t have a way to put second wired AP, then this may be a benefit.

Personally, I’ve decided to keep Ruckus Unleashed at least for a while. For my home, this system provided true seamless WiFi call, important for working from home. Subjectively, smoother web browsing and uninterrupted video streaming makes casual WiFi use feel better. As a network hobbyist, I like to know what and why I am doing things, so having detailed official document is something I truly value.

The biggest lesson I learned from these comparison is that Access points/Routers are not just about WiFi version, MIMO, and advertised theoretical max throughputs. There are more to than that, and they do affect us as end user. This is for sure true when comparing other brand APs as well.